The Outlander
By (Author) Gil Adamson
Allen & Unwin
Allen & Unwin
1st June 2009
Australia
General
Fiction
813
Winner of North American Hammett Prize 2009 (United States)
Paperback
408
Width 128mm, Height 198mm
446g
In 1903, a mysterious, desperate young woman flees alone across the icy western wilderness of the Rocky Mountains. Her name is Mary Boulton. Bloodhounds track her through the trees. She is nineteen years old. Half mad. Already a widow - by her own hand. Pursued by two relentless and vengeful brothers, Mary is forced to flee ever deeper into the mountains and away from civilisation, into the darkness of her own memory. Along the way, she meets an unforgettable collection of rogues, guardian angels and eccentrics, who offer support, only to reveal that they too have their own demons raging inside. As Mary is plunged further away from civilisation, her path from retribution to redemption slowly unfolds. A startling transformation of the classic western narrative, The Outlander is the haunting tale of one young woman's deliberate journey deep into the wild.
Gil Adamson's acclaimed short fiction and poetry has been widely published in magazines and literary journals. Her two poetry books (Primitive, 1991 and Ashland, 2003) and her collection of short stories Help Me, Jacques Cousteau (1997) received rave reviews. The Outlander is Adamson's first novel. She lives with fellow writer Kevin Connolly in Toronto.